Purpose: The Emerging Planning Professionals (EPP) Committee of APA-CO (newly formed in July) would like to host an informational/conversational session generally geared towards people in the planning profession or related fields about the flood response in Colorado- although all are welcome! It is a way to share information about the flood response at different levels in one place. It is important to the EPP that we link the role of planners to disaster mitigation and recovery.

Agenda & Format: We would like to invite 4-5 speakers from different fields to talk about the different aspects of the flood response and recovery process. Each presenter will speak for about 10 minutes and then have a few minutes for questions. The format will be casual and conversational.

Tim Gelston, Long Term Community Recovery Specialist, FEMA: How FEMA as an agency managed the emergency response and what the transition to long term recovery is beginning to look like. How were the damage and needs assessments done? What is the recovery looking like from a Federal level? What are the key challenges communities are facing in terms of flood maps and funding?

Anne Miller, Senior Planner, DOLA: DOLA is a unique agency in Colorado. How is the agency working with local governments both in terms of coordination and capacity building to deal with the long term flood recovery? What are the main issues emerging from the different communities in different areas?

Jared Hall, Transit/TDM Planner II, Boulder County Transportation: What were some of the emergency responses the County had to make in responding to the floods? What is the county looking at in changing its transportation development and programming as a result? What are the concrete examples of how resilience is being incorporated for the long term?

Chris Meschuk, Planner II - City of Boulder: Boulder endured a tremendous amount of damage from the floods - but is rapidly evaluating innovative ways to build resilience into its long-term planning. What did the flooding bring to the surface for the city in terms of key areas for new planning interventions? What previous planning decisions (raised bridges, greenways along stream corridors) did the City make in the past that leant to decreased damage? What can other Colorado towns learn from that?